Extreme. That’s what this year has been for me and my family. It feels like everything we have done or experienced has been extremely beautiful, extremely perfect or extremely hard and busy. Nonetheless, better to have an extreme ride than no ride at all.

Last year around this time, I was 40+ weeks pregnant with my sweet baby boy, Oslo Loyal, who made his appearance five days after the new year struck. Well… now he is going to be a year old in a few days, and I can hardly believe how much our lives have changed. Not only did we introduce a new boy into our family and learn to juggle all of life’s challenges with three boys (all at the time, under the age of 5), but my husband, Brandon, worked his tail off for quite some time to learn a field of work that meant a lot to him (the story is here) and was rewarded with the job of his dreams. It did, however, mean that we had to relocate to a tiny town in Virginia. Do I like it here? I love the scenery, but I am for sure still getting used to this small-town living. We found out in March that Brandon got the job here, and then, within two-and-a-half months, we had to sell two homes in South Carolina and find a home in Virginia. I can hardly remember April and May except that they were EXTREMELY difficult for our family. There was so much stress and crazy going on. End of May/early June we finally arrived at #ohmydeercroft, the most magnificent home that I’ve ever experienced. The scenery of the area and the house itself has been my refuge in the middle of all the business. It’s been a sanctuary for my heart to adjust.

July was such a fun month for me and Brandon as we headed back to Ireland for the first time in thirteen years. We both shot the most breathtaking wedding in the same town where we so happened to have got engaged thirteen years ago. We spent ten days traveling around Ireland and driving the Connemara Circle, which is an absolute must for everyone to experience. It was exactly what our marriage and love needed after all the change we had endured.

October through the beginning of December, I spent 6-8 weeks traveling, shooting, driving, editing, shooting, editing, listening to audio books, shooting, editing, long phone chats, taking care of three kids, shooting, editing, driving, shooting… etc… It was probably one of the most exhausting seasons I’ve ever had in my ten years of business.

This month has been full of guests and Christmas wonder as we welcomed a ton of family and friends to stay with us over this Christmas/holiday season. It was incredibly special for us.

I feel like I say the same things every year, but every year I feel like I get more and more overwhelmed by the people I get to share the year with. Your love stories, your wedding stories, your family stories, your birth stories… no matter what I’ve witnessed–every shoot, I have felt more empathy and thankfulness that I get to make these photos. Thank you all for entrusting your stories to me. What a dream I get to live!

Below are too many of my favorite images from the year. I totally over-blogged and I don’t care. I added a few of my family in here as well, as they are super cute and beautiful and they are the reason I do what I do. And most days they are the reason I’m not sure how I do what I do. haha!

Happy New Year, beautiful friends! Thanks for following our crazy journey.